Tired of dealing with potholes in the road? Howe Sound Brewery of Squamish, BC Canada has a beer to fill your pothole or at least help you forget about them, it’s called Pothole Filler Imperial Stout. Howe Sound describes the beer as “thick” with intense roasted barley flavor. It’s available in resealable 1 liter bottles and contains 9% alcohol by volume.

It won’t surprise anyone to know that the city of Los Angeles has more streets than any other municipality in the country — 6,500 miles of them. That translates into an awful lot of potholes. A true pothole can be easily patched with asphalt. Last year, the city fixed 300,000 of them. But if it turns out to be a gaping wound in the road formed by a sunken trench or the diabolical natural wonders known as water and trees, then you have to get in line for repairs.

One of the big challenges with fixing that many potholes is figuring out who is finding the money to make all those repairs. According to the article LA is spending more than $21 million annually to maintain and repair their roads.

In order to stay on top of potholes LA is now offering a citywide 311 hotline service for reporting potholes and other municipal issues. If you live in Los Angeles or are a visitor, don’t hesitate to dial 311 to report especially bad potholes on the streets of LA.

All asphalt cold patches are not the same. Some asphalt cold patches are made with petroleum distillates that release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) when they are used to repair potholes. Sakrete U.S. Cold Patch asphalt patch is a recycled asphalt product which does not contain petroleum solvent and is the only asphalt cold patch product certified as environmentally preferable by Scientific Certification Systems for Home Depot’s Eco-Option program.

Need to fix a pothole permanently for not much money? Sakrete U.S. Cold Patch is the perfect answer. There is no need to call an asphalt repair company. Simply go to your local The Home Depot store and buy a few 50 lb. bags of Sakrete U.S. Cold Patch. The product has the consistency of potting soil, no oily mess.

Product Description
An environmentally-friendly, ready to use recycled asphalt product. Use to permanent patching of potholes, cracks and other defects in blacktop and concrete. Convenient 50 lb. size.

Stronger and easier to use than other pothole repair products

Drive on immediately after use

Odorless recycled material that greatly reduces harmful VOCs typically found in other products

State Farm Insurance recommends homeowners patch potholes in their driveway with asphalt cold patch. Notice that if you use US Cold Patch to fix your driveway, step #4 should not be necessary. Sakrete US Cold Patch is available at The Home Depot. Find a stocking store near you at your Where To Buy page.

You might be able to dodge some potholes on streets, but when divots open up in your own driveway, they’re hard to steer around and can trip up people on foot. Fortunately, driveway potholes are easy to fix. Here are the simple steps.

Asphalt Driveways

Remove any loose asphalt or gravel from the hole with a shovel and then a broom.

Use asphalt cold patch to fill the hole half an inch above the surface of the driveway.

Tamp the patch material down with a 4×4 post or a tamper (available to rent at most home centers or hardware stores). Then cover the hole with a piece of plywood and drive over it with your car.

Throw sand or dust over the patch material to keep it from sticking to shoes or tires.

An Ohio man severely injured in a motorcycle accident caused by a pothole has been awared $300,000. According to the Columbus Dispatch:

The Ohio Court of Claims has approved a $300,000 claim to be paid by the Ohio Department of Transporation to a Delaware County motorcyclist who suffered extensive injuries when he had an accident after hitting a pothole on State Route 2 in Ottawa County on Aug. 2, 2007.

Michael Harmon was thrown off his 2001 Kawasaki motorcyle and suffered more than a dozen injuries. some of them causing permanent disability and requiring $1.2 million in medical and related expenses. Harmon also incurred $58,000 in lost wages.

A tough Mayoral race in San Diego was ultimately lost by City Councilman Carl DeMaio, a conservative Republican and budget hawk who also has led the fight to reduce city pensions and outsource city jobs and repair roads. The Los Angeles Times reported that the race for San Diego Mayor was focused on infrastructure issues, especially fixing the streets. Carl DeMaio had been at the forefront of getting potholes repaired.

Even before the campaign began, DeMaio released a seven-point “Save Our Streets” plan to dedicate $335 million to $497 million during the next five years to fix the city’s roads. He created a smartphone appfor residents to report potholes, was photographed helping city road crews and promised to appoint an inspector general for potholes.

The Los Angeles Times reported that DeMaio had conceded defeat in the election. His campaign slogan and efforts just were not enough to win the race.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta’s pothole and road repair issues are getting worse, not better. In a records request, they also discovered a large number of legal settlements for damage caused by potholes:

In Atlanta, pockmarked roads are a serious pocketbook issue. Potholes, street defects and metal plates covering “utility cuts” in Atlanta’s roadways cost the city more than $270,000 in 380 legal settlements over the past five years, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News through an open-records request.

Atlanta fields an average of 80 to 90 complaint calls about potholes per month. In the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, the Department of Public Works completed pothole repairs within 72 hours in about 75 percent of cases, according to city budget documents. That fell well short of the city’s goal.

U.S. Cold Patch fixes potholes quickly, safely and permanently. Hey ATL – are you using U.S. Cold Patch yet?

SeeClickFix.com of Connecticut has created a great mobile app and website widget for reporting and seeing potholes and other road repair and maintenance issues. Their mobile app is available for iPhone, Android and even Blackberry. SeeClickFix will even create custom branded versions of their app for cities and municipalities.

Here is a sample widget you can try yourself. Once you report that pothole be sure to tell your city about U.S. Cold Patch, the easy, safe and permanent asphalt and pothole patch.

What the Pros Say about U.S. Cold Patch®

Simply the easiest product to prep for (no tack required), to use, (just pour out of the bag) to compact, (tamp or tire roll) and most importantly, stays in place, long lasting, (some of our patches are 18 months old and still require no sweetening material). We don’t have to purchase standard cold mix in quantities that usually don’t get used before their shelf life (i.e. get hard and difficult to use) saves money, we like U.S. Cold Patch and highly recommend it.